


i swear that i'll be around for you

by Flora_Obsidian



Series: found families [8]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Feels, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Motherhood, Multi, Queerplatonic Relationships, about parenting and things, as it is, because queerplatonic jedistormpilot is a beautiful thing, he's mentioned a couple times if that counts, implied - Freeform, mara meets padme and if things weren't so sad in star wars they would be a force to be reckoned with, poe isn't really in this one i'm sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-01
Updated: 2016-08-01
Packaged: 2018-07-28 14:05:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7643584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flora_Obsidian/pseuds/Flora_Obsidian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Strange, that after being married for close to thirty years, she speaks with her mother-in-law for the first time and still doesn't know her name.</p>
            </blockquote>





	i swear that i'll be around for you

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Mara Jade fanfic exchange on Tumblr! 
> 
> Technically a part of the found families 'verse, but it can be read as a standalone with the knowledge that it's set post-TFA, runs with the Rey Skywalker fan theory, Han is alive, and Force ghosts Anakin and Padme hung around with Rey on Jakku. No warnings, just sad discussions about motherhood.
> 
> Set an unknown amount of time after _do not go gentle into that good night_.

The Resistance changes bases frequently, part of necessity and part of habit, a sense of unease sinking in after too long spent in one place, a feeling of inaction, a growing anxiety as they wait for a threat to show itself, not considering that they might be so lucky and there _is_ no threat, the theory a preposterous one in the face of an Empire reborn, of planets destroyed. They change bases now, though the reason is a good one. A couple Troopers looking to defect found their former base; if foot soldiers can find it, the rest of the First Order would be sure to follow.

And so, they leave.

It's a quick process, after all the times the rebels have needed to up and move before they get caught. Mara watches from by the _Jade Sabre_ , shoulder-deep in hull plating and wires, wanting to make sure the old ship is fit to make the trip through hyperspace. It's been months since she arrived, and she's had nothing but time on her hands to make repairs in, but years of neglect in a First Order shipyard have taken their toll.

Well. If the _Falcon_ is spaceworthy after all these years, the _Sabre_ better well be, neglect or no. She turns her gaze away from a pair of pilots herding astromechs onto one of the shuttles and resumes repairs. By the end of the day, the base is empty, looking as empty as it had when they first arrived.

The pilot, Dameron, is flying by himself, leading his squadron of X-Wing fighters; Han and Leia are in the _Falcon_ with Chewbacca and their droids; Luke-

...Luke sleeps in their room on the _Sabre_. Rey is predisposed to forgo sleep in lieu of reading or training or fixing, but she's out cold on one of the bunks, Finn not far away.

(Mara isn't sure what the relationship between them is – especially since she's seen them both equally friendly with the pilot, Dameron – but he's here anyway, and she wants to talk to him all the same; she's a private person, but she is also perhaps the only one who fully understands the magnitude of what he has done, of the strength it takes to look around and realize that the world as one knows it is wrong, to recognize the lies one has been spoon-fed for decades and choose to break away from it all.)

The _Sabre_ is quiet, cold, gray. The engines hum underneath her feet. Mara reaches out with the Force and feels it wrapped around her, feels the solar flare that is Luke, the starburst that is her daughter, the steadily burning flame that is Finn who was FN-2187.

It's a solid reminder that the ship isn't as empty as it seems anymore. The universe seems to do nothing but take-take-take and _yet_ , here they are, despite everything.

The Force _shifts_ , ever so slightly. Mara mimics the motion, head tilting a degree or two, shoulders tensing, suddenly hyper-alert for anything wrong, out of the ordinary, unfamiliar movement or noise, but-

-nothing?

That shift is still there, something is different than it was, and after some intent consideration she concludes it isn't a particularly _bad_ different. There is no warning in the air around her, no pervading sense of wrong. Her mind brushes over her family and finds them still asleep.

Still, a difference, mid-flight, in hyperspace, is cause enough for concern. She stands, slips out of the cockpit, blaster in hand, looking for something entirely unknown.

“ _-when they're asleep.”_

A voice is enough to put her on alert – _how the kriffing hells did someone get on to my ship –_ but there is still nothing in the Force to indicate their presence, beyond that shift, and still _no warning_ -

“ _It's good to see her so calm.”_

Two? And a faint blue glow across the floor, and Mara pauses at the end of the short hall between the cockpit and the rest of the ship, studying the ghosts. Rey's bunk is further down, and they seem to be taking care not to wake her, speaking softly.

 _I was raised by my grandparents on a planet called Jakku_ , Rey has told her.

“ _I'm going to see if Luke is awake,”_ says Anakin Skywalker, and Mara watches him leave, drifting through walls and various objects in his path as if they aren't there. Her heart twists, just the slightest bit- he had been in much the same situation as her, once upon a time, and Luke _did_ trust him, however wary she may be.

“It's good you're not corporeal,” she says to the ghost remaining, hefts her blaster. Her tone is even; she's shifted back into something resembling a relaxed posture, and the words are not meant as (nor are they taken as) a threat, just a statement of fact, a testament to the loyalty she holds for her family. Luke's mother, a startlingly young woman almost mistaken for Leia Organa of the Rebel Alliance, turns, seemingly unperturbed, unsurprised. “I don't take kindly to strangers on my ship.”

She shrugs once, somehow making the motion seem graceful, and smiles ruefully. It should cause her to look all the younger, a smile, but she just looks tired. _“I suppose we are strangers, aren't we? I do regret that.”_

“Can't change what's already happened.” She puts the blaster down. Won't do her any good, not that she feels inclined to use it anymore.

There's a pause.

“...You took care of my daughter.”

The ghost looks up. Mara finds that she stands several inches taller than her, looking down at a woman in bluescale some twenty-five years her junior. It's- disconcerting.

Still, the ghost smiles, still a little sad, a little tired. _“She's_ _strong. Smart. Ani made sure she knew about her family, made sure she didn't forget what she remembered of you.”_

 _Ani_. Mara decides to ignore that for now.

“You were there for her,” she says again, trying to stress her words, convey their importance, convey a feeling she doesn't entirely understand herself-

“ _I know.”_ The ghost doesn't look away. _“I wasn't there for them.”_

There's nothing to say to that.

Mara considers, just for a moment, what a different galaxy might have been like, of her and Luke and the Organas watching their children chase each other around the shipyard- but it doesn't do to dwell on could-have-beens. Can't change what's already happened.

She looks back at the ghost and sees a bit of herself.

“Were you afraid?”

“ _When I found out I was pregnant? Terrified. Overjoyed. It was the middle of a war. No one knew I was married. I was a Senator under constant public scrutiny. But at the same time, I was going to be a mother. I always wanted children. And I wasn't there for them, and I regret it more than anything, but I got to see what they've done, what they're capable of doing, and I have never been more proud.”_

And that's something she can understand, at least.

“Thank you.”

“ _She's family.”_

“I'm proud of her.”

“ _I know,”_ the ghost says for a second time in the brief conversation, and then, _“There's another ship trying to contact you,”_ right before she hears the chime from the cockpit. Mara walks back in to find a status update from the ships leading the group, warping out several hours ahead from everyone else, reporting a safe landing, no complications- walks back out in time to see Anakin Skywalker fade out of sight, and the ghost smiles one last time at her.

“ _Goodnight, Mara.”_

“I- Goodnight...”

“ _Padme,”_ she supplies.

“...Padme.”

The _Sabre_ is quiet again, cold, gray, nothing but the hum of engines under her feet and the Force shifting back to normal underneath her skin, and her family sleeps on, and Mara stands staring at an empty space of floor.

Can't change what's already happened. Nothing to do but keep moving forward, act in the _now_ , plan ahead.

She checks the time they have left in hyperspace, brushes a calming thought over her daughter's mind, slips quietly past where Finn sleeps as so not to wake him, lies down next to her husband and studies the gray in his hair and thinks _we're here now_.

And maybe that's enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on Tumblr @[floraobsidian](floraobsidian.tumblr.com)


End file.
